


Over Coffee

by SnowyFrostShadow



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: 'two people who used to date but still get along for the most part' fic, Gen, More Of A, also touches on events of the last episode a little, not really a shipping shipping fic, so i guess.....platonic caring for each other?, so uh minor spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 02:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10401594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowyFrostShadow/pseuds/SnowyFrostShadow
Summary: Once a month or so, Charlene and Heinz get together and talk over a cup of coffee.Usually over little things. How Vanessa is doing. Something interesting that happened to them. Small talk.They still care after all, just not as much as they used to.





	

Fingers tapping against the table, Charlene shot another glance at the clock located right above the register.

 

It wasn't as if she really expected him to be on time. Heinz very rarely was. But usually his lateness took up about five-ten minutes of her time. And she'd made adjustments for that. Setting the meet-up time to be earlier than what it'd really end up being. Bringing a book she was just about done with, a magazine. Things to pass the time.

 

But half an hour was pushing it.

 

Lips pressing together into a tight line, Charlene took another sip of her latte. If she had to wait any longer, she'd have to buy a third cup. And considering the current asking prices on the various beverages, she'd be better off leaving.

 

No need to waste the family fortune on coffee after all. Though...the thought of her parents' faces if she did do that was enough to prompt a small smirk.

 

Five more minutes. If he didn't show up, then she'd just have to leave and reschedule their meeting for some other time. Or just wait till next month. It would have to depend on how mad or disappointed she was in him for not bothering to show.

 

She was in the middle of taking another sip of her drink when the door to the cafe slammed open, barely avoiding an accident between the person entering the cafe and a young women attempting to leave with four cups of coffee.

 

"Sorry! Sorry! Running sorta late here...got caught up with.......work. I don't suppose you know if a woman with short brown hair is still here? Was supposed to be here ages ago-CHARLENE! OH GREAT YOU'RE STILL HERE! I'LL BE RIGHT OVER!"

 

Charlene couldn't help a small chuckle of amusement as her ex made his way to their usual table. Heinz always had the worst timing but his luck seemed to balance things out.

 

"You're lucky you know." She began as he slid into the chair across from her. "A couple minutes later and you'd have found yourself sitting at an empty table mister."

 

Heinz gave her a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh. Don't I know it.Y-You'd think there was some sort of parade going on there was so much traffic on the way here."

 

"Mm. So did I hear right when you said you were caught up at work? Don't tell me you got a job and forgot to tell me."

 

If it was possible, Heinz suddenly looked even more embarrassed than before. "Aaah about that...h-has Vanessa told you anything about what I'm doing now?"

 

"No. Should she?"

 

"Well uh no. It's more of something between you and me...a-and I told her that. That I'd tell you myself. But I was kinda hoping she'd let something slip..."

 

"Heinz. What's going on?"

 

Charlene winced a little. That had come out a little sterner than she'd have liked, but he was honestly worrying her a little. He hadn't been this nervous around her since he'd asked her to marry him.

 

"W~ell nothing really... I-I mean it sorta is but not really but it's kinda of a big thing but yanno nothing-"

 

" _Heinz._ "

 

"One-of-my-inators-had-a-bit-of-a-negative-effect-on-the-space-time-contuinium-and-nearly-destroyed-life-as-we-know-it-but-it's-all-good-now-clearly-since-you-and-I-are-talking-right-now-but-Vanessa-brought-it-to-my-attention-that-I'm-not-really-evil-and-that-I-never-really-was-so-right-now-I'm-working-on-turning-my-life-around-and-becoming-a-good-guy."

 

She gave him a long steady look before blinking and shaking her head.

 

"I'm sorry. _What?_ Heinz; you said that all too fast for me follow. Could you run that by me again?"

 

”Y-Yeah...so uh one of my inators backfired. Horribly. I mean it was nice for a little bit but the cost ended up being greater than the profit and I had to undo it. Fast. Or it was End-of-Life-as-we-Know-It. And while I was doing that, Vanessa brought it to my attention that I was never really...evil. Which I mean was bit of a 'WOW' moment for me. Like a good chunk of my life was spent on me thinking I was b-but she was right. I never really was any good at it. So since then I've been working on turning my life around. Talking with Francis. Word of advice, that man is as stubborn as they come. Blow up his car once, _on accident mind you,_ and he won't give you the time of day much less help with questions about his organization's fifty page paperwork. I mean really. I said 'sorry' at least twenty times now.

 

"But yeah...turning over a new leaf is a bit harder than I thought it was. I was actually in court today. Ran a lot longer than I thought it would. B-But I think I got it all straightened out now. Francis and Perry were a big help and even Rodger put in a good word for me. Surprise surprise right?"

 

Charlene, for her part just sat there in stunned silence. For the first time since Summer had ended, heck in all the years she'd known him, the thought that some of their daughter's claims of Heinz being evil might have held some truth to them, rang through her mind.

But looking at the man in front of her, twiddling his fingers and giving her a nervous look, as if he half expected her to leave right then and there.....she just couldn't connect him to any form of evil. But she might have to ask Vanessa for some more details of what exactly her ex husband had been up to that he had to be brought to court for.

 

But for right now, she could be there for him and listen to his side of things a bit longer.

 

Reaching her hand across the table, the grabbed one of his and tightly gripped it. "So. How did it go? The judge must have given you a verdict before he let you go."

 

Heinz nodded. "It went okay. The jury judged me guilty but uh thanks to Francis and mostly Rodger's good word I got the choice of jail time or community service. I chose the latter." An excited grin spread across his face "They gave me a list of options and I chose to teach at the high school." Heinz was practically bouncing in his seat at this point. "I get to teach Vanessa and all her friends science next week! Can you believe it? The last science teacher retired last year and the school district hadn't been able to find a replacement. They've been having the principal teach the class for the moment until they could find someone..."

 

As Heinz rambled on, Charlene watched him in silence. While she was happy for him that he had found some sort of job he could enjoy she was a little more concerned with the fact that it had only come about as an alternative to _going to jail_.  

 

She would really have to grill Vanessa about her father's activities over the summer.  

 

"Charlene."

 

The seriousness of his tone brought her full attention back to him.

 

"Since I'm going to be working soon....we need to talk about the amount of alimony you give me. I'll be making my own money...and a portion of it will be going back to the state-"

 

"We can talk about that next month. See how your first paycheck looks and go from there."

 

"But-"

 

Charlene shot him a weary smile. "Really Heinz, you can't dump all this information on me in one go. I'm going to need some time to think about it. Alright?"

 

"Heheh. I suppose so... So how are things going on your end?"

 

"Well Mr. Doofenshmirtz, buy me another coffee and I'll tell you. It's been a long week."

**Author's Note:**

> This has actually been sitting in my flash drive for ages and I think there was something more I wanted to write at the end there, but for the life of me I can't remember what.
> 
> Anyways, I think it stopped at a nice enough ending point there so *shrugs*


End file.
